Task-driven distributed multimedia consumer system

Abstract

A control system comprises multiple consumer electronics devices and task-driven control means coupled to the devices for controlling an interaction among the devices. The control means acts on respective software representations of each respective one of the consumer devices. By encapsulating the variable complexity of the task within a software representation, it can be made as simple or as sophisticated as needed to bring the capabilities up to a common level. Since the level of interface is common to the devices, applications can uniformly manipulate devices which embody very different levels of sophistication.

We claim: 
     
       1. A consumer electronics system, comprising: (a) a plurality of consumer electronics devices; and   (b) a task-driven control means interconnecting the consumer electronics devices for controlling interaction among the consumer electronics devices,   (c) the control means storing software representations of the interconnected consumer electronics devices and communicating with the consumer electronics devices via their respective stored software representations, and   (d) at least one of the consumer electronics devices storing its own software representation within itself and downloading its own software representation to the control means for storage in the control means automatically without consumer interaction when first being interconnected to the control means.   
     
     
       2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the respective software representations stored in the control means comprises a device abstraction for representing the respective device at a same semantic level common to all of the software representations. 
     
     
       3. The system of claim 2, wherein at least one of the respective software representations comprises an application of a user-interface to the device abstraction, the application being run on the control means. 
     
     
       4. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the consumer electronics devices is a home entertainment device. 
     
     
       5. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the consumer electronics devices is a home entertainment television receiver. 
     
     
       6. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the consumer electronics devices is a home entertainment VCR. 
     
     
       7. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the consumer electronics devices is a home entertainment CD-player. 
     
     
       8. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the consumer electronics devices is a home entertainment DVD-player. 
     
     
       9. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the consumer electronics devices is a telephone. 
     
     
       10. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the consumer electronics devices is a lighting control system. 
     
     
       11. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the consumer electronics devices is a thermostat. 
     
     
       12. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the consumer electronics devices is graphics navigation equipment in an automobile. 
     
     
       13. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the consumer electronics devices is an electronic climate control system in an automobile. 
     
     
       14. A method of enabling interaction among a multiplicity of consumer electronics devices, comprising the steps of: storing a software representation of a consumer electronics device in the consumer electronics device itself;   interconnecting the consumer electronics device having the stored software representation of itself to a control means, the control means already storing a software representation in the control means that corresponds to each consumer electronics device already interconnected to the control means, each of the stored software representations in the control means interfacing between the control means and its corresponding consumer electronics device; and   automatically downloading the software representation stored in the consumer electronics device to the control means for storage in the control means without consumer interaction when the consumer electronics device having the stored software representation of itself is first interconnected to the control means.   
     
     
       15. The method of claim 14 wherein the consumer electronics device storing a software representation of itself is a home entertainment devices. 
     
     
       16. The method of claim 15 wherein the home entertainment device is a home entertainment television receiver. 
     
     
       17. The method of claim 15 wherein the home entertainment device is a home entertainment VCR. 
     
     
       18. The method of claim 15 wherein the home entertainment device is a home entertainment CD-player. 
     
     
       19. The method of claim 14 wherein one of the consumer electronics devices is a telephone system. 
     
     
       20. The method of claim 14 wherein one of the consumer electronics devices is a thermostatic control system.